Historians often refer to the Gupta period as "Classical" because it flourished the Sanskrit-based culture that had begun in the previous centuries. By 300AD, Vedic Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism had spread throughout India. Brahmin priests composed most of the great Sanskrit texts and scriptures of Hinduism, more recently the Hindu law codes and the Puranas (ancient tales), a collection of legends centered on major gods and goddesses, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana almost reaching their final form. Had done During the Gupta dynasty (320–550 AD) this Sanskrit-based culture, which now spread throughout India, reached a peak of creativity, with the production of secular literature, poetry and art, of which Sanskrit dramas and poems were included. Was The most famous example is the court writer Kalidasa. But the Gupta period also saw a revival of most of the earlier traditions. As much as it is "classical", Gupta India should also be seen as the starting point for new forms of Hinduism, Hindu political relations and Hindu social institutions.
The Gupta dynasty was established in the Ganges river valley c. 320 AD by a man who took the name of Chandragupta, the founder of the Maurya dynasty. This proved prophetic, as the Gupta Empire would re-conquer much of the territory held by the earlier Mauryan kings. The base of the Guptas (like the Mauryas) was the Gangetic plain. The founder's son, Samudragupta (reigned 335–376), also made Pataliputra his capital. Samudragupta's conquests created an empire that extended from Assam through the Punjab in the east and into the territories of the Scythians (Western Sakas) in the west. The third Gupta king, Chandragupta II (reigned 376–415), became famous in later centuries as King Vikramaditya, a wise and benevolent ruler about whom many legends and stories circulated. Chandragupta II expanded the Gupta realm to its greatest size. After the destruction of the Scythians in 388 CE, the dynasty controlled the whole of northern India from the Indus in the west to Assam in the east, and was also acknowledged by regional rulers south of the Narmada River. Fahien, a Chinese Buddhist monk who lived in India for six years during the reign of Chandragupta II, commented on the calmness of Indian society during this period. But where the Mauryas supported heretical religions, the Gupta kings identified themselves and their dynasty with elite Sanskrit culture and the new devotional, temple-based Hinduism – even though the Guptas assumed the title of Kakarvartin and established Buddhist monasteries and continued to support stupas. The Guptas built and supported Hindu temples, and they wrote inscriptions on these temples in Sanskrit (not Prakrit), which is now the elite written language of India. He also used Hindu rituals to formalize the incorporation of defeated tribes and kings into his empire. In an anointing ritual personally attended by the emperors, they reconsecrated the defeated kings as tributary subordinates; The defeated ruler became a regional king of his land, paying tribute to occasional audiences with Gupta Chakravartin and otherwise ruling independently in his land. While the Mauryas retained control of only the center and a few core areas of their empire, the Guptas, through tributary connections, attempted to control most of it. However, Chandragupta II's successors were unable to maintain his vast empire. In the north, beginning in the mid-fifth century, the Huns—a Central Asian tribe descended from the White Huns—repeatedly attacked the empire and even captured its western territories from 500 to 530. The powerful king weakened the Guptas. By 550 the original line had no successor, and the Gupta territories fell back into the hands of regional and local rulers.
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